Rogers to continue policy of no charge tethering indefinitely

Come one, come all for another instalment of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: Rogers Wireless Edition. Today’s topic? Tethering.

The Good: No charge tethering (data used while tethering comes out of one’s monthly data allotment) for wireless data subscribers will not be left to expire come the promotions scheduled expiration date of May 3rd. From now on, this is a policy which will remain in place indefinitely.

The Bad: You need a data plan with a monthly allotment of 1GB or more (sorry $25/500MB, $40 Smartphone Data and Voice and Data plan users, you’re S.O.L.) and those with $100 family plan with 1GB of pooled data are ineligible. Need tethering? That’ll be a minimum of $30.

The Ugly:One Rate plans. If you have a One Rate plan Even of 1GB or more, you’re not allowed to tether. Example: If you have an iPhone with a 1GB One Rate plan you cannot tether, but if you put the same plan One Rate on a Rocket Stick you can. Does this make sense to anyone? It doesn’t to us so we’ve asked Rogers PR to fill us in on the reasoning.

So how does this news strike all of those Rogers customers out there? Are you pleased? Irate? Indifferent? Thirsty? Let’s discuss.

that’s the way it should be! i don’t pay any tethering fees on T-MO :D

evilstrike

Its simple really

People is the USA really do not care about what is going on in Canada

People in Canada are used to this kind of nonsense but can do nothing about it

Rogers is rogers and they will continue to be dumbass until we get more wireless carrier competition up here.
Until then they can do whatever the hell they want and people up here will be forced to pay up.

Just a little correction. I have the family plan with 1gb data and I can tether no problem. Unless this is new, then they got that wrong in the article.

Baester

those facts don’t matter – just BGR bias

Dara

I’ve been tethering (rarely, but with no charges) on my 500 mb plan for over a year now. If I get any tethering charges from Rogers I’ll cancel the data plan on principle since I’d be getting less for my money.

It’s hard to find technology companies that don’t ever deliver better value for their services, but the Canadian telecom industry is full of them.

You can tell that they know it too. Koodo(Telus) and Fido(Rogers) have some of the most disingenuous ad campaigns in existence.

“We won’t rip you off like those ‘other’ carriers.”

Mark L

I think disallowing the tethering on the One Rate Plans isn’t that bad. Not a lot of people are using those plans – only people who want US roaming. All other plans are tetherable (so no 500mb, and Family Share. And US Roaming One rate plans.)

Fisty

The only reason they might be asking people to have a 1GB plan is because data consumption is greater on a PC than a device.

Unofficially, they won’t block you, but they want to avoid the dumbasses who start filesharing through their tethered connection and then call screaming to get the charges reversed. (yes, it’s an extreme example, but don’t underestimate the stupidity of end-users).

Unknown

wow. so many negative people. Good news and you are ripping them. The reason tethering is not allowed on the 500mb plan is you are likely to tear through 500mb of data in no time and then be left on the hook for the overage. They are being proactive to protect you. Pony up and stop complaining and just pay the $5 extra to get a one gig plan if you want to tether for free.

Guy

I’ve been tethering (occasionally when needed) for a year now on a 500mb plan. I just ran a simple (one time) work around I read about when tethering first came to the iPhone (no jail-breaking involved). So, I’m happy no-charge tethering is continued.

http://angrychinesedriver.com AngryChineseDriver

Wait, so $30 gets you 1GB with Rogers, while for $5 more you can jump to WIND and get unlimited (throttled after 5GB) data for whatever you want except P2P?! So much for competition…

Also, don’t forget that since WIND is so small currently, there is no throttling because there’s no stress on the network.

Fisty

The problem with that is coverage. As cool as WIND is, they simply do not have the towers to make the switch worthwhile, if you travel outside the cities they currently service.

And tethering is mostly a traveling thing.

Dara

Also, for all of the people suggesting that you could be on the hook for ridiculous charges, Rogers has one and only one fair overage charge, and that is its data overage.

3c/mb and warning texts at 80% and 100% of your data allowance, and also their mobile usage site, mean that you won’t end up screwed.

I almost always go over my data plan, but rarely rack up more than a couple of dollars in overages.

Sam

Awesome!!! 6 GB of tethering…

Nixon

So if you have a 500mb plan, what happens when you tether?

Abdulwahab B

I’m also on a 500 meg plan,

called rogers last night, the service rep said I had lucked out and somehow gotten a tethering port on my phone, i could use tethering for free so long as I didnt go over my 500 meg limit.

awesome!

KevinD

I’ve had a 500mb smartphone value plan through Rogers for over a year, and I do over 100mb of tethered data every month and never been charged for it